My '66 Toronado appears to have the original rear brake hose and I'd like to replace it. Now, I have a replacement hose on hand but am looking for any tips on getting the old one out without doing too much damage. I'd sure appreciate any tricks or tips any of you guys have on dealing with potential seized hard line fittings. I've attached some pictures below of the installation and note that these are not my car but rather reference pictures I collected from other restoration projects (just easier than going down and taking my own pics).

I just finished up my front brake lines, unseizing them from the junction block under the hood, but I got lucky here as none of them were rusted to the lines. I'm suspecting I won't be so lucky with that rear line as I got under there and took a good look and it looks a bit angrier. I'm thinking the fitting on the rear line could possibly be stuck to the hard line where it connects to the reat brake hose and I'd like to have a plan before I start. I've been cleaning it with a brass brush and hitting it with penetrating oil over and over whenever the thought crosses my mind so hopefully that helps.

If it is stuck, how do you guys like to approach these scenarios? I'm a capable guy but don't have much experience with rusty brake lines, I have to admit, and I'd like to do my best to not damage that rear hard line. One end of the hose is an inverted flare end, threaded into a junction block, that supplies the rear brakes. The other end is the flared connection, mounted securely in a bracket with a clip, and the hard line threads into it. If the hard line fitting is stuck and it twists the line, would you suggest cutting the hose and unthreading it from the seized fitting? Or. should I remove the other end from the junction block first and then unthread the whole hose from the hard line (although this would mean twisting the heck out of the hose)? There's a bolt on the hard line bracket that appears to be easy to get to so I could potentially move that out of the way, if necessary.

I do have a very handy tool called an induction heater with a coil that I can wrap around the line fitting to heat it up without resorting to a torch. It worked very good on the front brake lines so I'll probably hit it with that a few times too. Also I have good line wrenches. Anyway, any help you guys with more experience could offer would be awesome. Thanks!

 

Here is the new hose for reference.....


Replacement rear Tornado brake hose

 

Many people have recipes or products they use. I prefer Hoppes #9 gun solvent (for cleaning gun barrels). It smells good and it works on rust.fairly quickly. Apply it with an "acid brush" to soak the threads. It will "wick" inside.

I recently used it to free up a laundry room faucet fitting.

 

I've been using the upside down computer duster trick to freeze the fitting and line and then spray them with penetrant. I've hit it a few times now, whenever the thought crosses my mind.

 

The bind on brake tubing can be the threads but it more often between the tubing nut and the tube. Juice it well in both places. Try bumping it tight before loosening it and use a ton of patience. Tubing/line wrenches are a must and small flat jaw vise grips may be needed if the nut starts to round.

 

Yes, good advice. I do have a good set of line wrenches and some various vice grips. I'm thinking if the hard line is stuck to the fitting, I will be forced to cut the old hose to remove it as it's threaded into the Y-block on the other end. There would be no way to turn the hose off of the fitting without cutting it......at least, I don't think so.

 

I'll have to try the computer duster and some penetrant. I've sprayed my rear brake hose with plenty of PB Blaster. So far I'm still running the OE rear brake hose.

 

Yeah, if you give it a good shake and turn it upside down then spray it is insanely cold. I usually give it a good spray for 5-7 seconds or so. If you alternate with a bit of heat as well you may even have better results.

 

You mentioned you tried an induction heater. What brand is it, or where did you get it? I might try using the heat gun I have, but a propane torch that close to the fuel tank is an exercise in stupidity.

 

Yes, mine was a gift from my wife and she got it off of Amazon a while back (before we stopped purchasing from them). The brand is Hot Rod and I got a flexible rod in the kit that you can wrap around something like a brake line and then hook up the heater. It definitely feels a lot safer than using a torch near flammable things.

 

You mean your '71 98 is still using the original rear brake hose?

I'm 90% sure mine is original too

 

I would just soak the fittings in PB Blaster or penetrating oil or whatever over several days and then see what happens. But be prepared for the worst, anyway.

I needed to disconnect the brake lines from the wheel cylinders on the rear brakes on my '73 Delta 88. I'm sure they were the original, 50-year-old wheel cylinders and connections, and they were rusted so bad that I just could not get them to loosen. I ended up twisting the brake line right at the point where it connects to the cylinder, so it was trashed.

I ended up cutting out a section of the brake line where the twist was and "splicing" in a new piece. Here's a photo of the right side. Small sections of brake line of various diameters and lengths are available at the auto parts store along with brake line couplers. I carefully bent it with my tubing bender, and installed it. Did this on both sides. No leaks, and the brakes work fine. I also needed a flaring tool to make a flare on the cut end of the line coming from the junction block. Remember to slide the fitting on the line first!

I'm just saying that, in spite of your best efforts, that nearly 60-year-old connection just might not break loose, and you'll have to do something similar.

I don't know how accessible it is, but, if you do have to cut the hard line, you might just replace the entire line from front to rear.

 

Thanks for the advice. Yeah I've been soaking it frequently but am preparing for the worst. Unfortunately the line to the rear brakes is terribly buried where it transitions over the frame back by the area aft of the drivers door. To replace it would be very very difficult, but it may come to that. Looking at it closely, however, there is a nice straight stretch of hard line just forward of the connection to the hose. This section could be spliced relatively easily so I guess that could be a decent temporary solution.


Not my car, stock interweb photo

 

One other sacrilegious suggestion is to just take it to a local brake shop. Let them replace that line. They can put the car up on a lift, and they probably have the experience in freeing stuck connections and splicing in new pipe if necessary.

 

Sacrilegious is right! I pretty much don't let anyone work on my car except myself unless it's bodywork or I am absolutely out of options.

 

If "splicing" is done , do not use compression fittings. If the remaining line is good use a threaded union to connect brake line that has been properly double flared.

 

I understand, but sometimes discretion is the better part of valor.

You could spend quite a bit of time and frustration getting this done, or you could take it to a shop and have the car back in a couple of hours with all nice new brake lines.

This is not a complicated repair for a brake shop. This is their bread and butter.

 

Just as one example, my '73 Delta 88 would more often than not make a loud scraping noise that would come and go as I accelerated and then stepped on the brakes. Because of this and because I had just completely redone the front brakes, I strongly assumed that the problem was in my brake job, and I took the front wheels off and inspected things over and over. The brakes worked fine, and I saw no problems, but I assumed something was stuck between the pads or the pads were loose or who knows what. Whatever I did, I could not get the noise to go away.

So I finally broke down and took the car to a local shop, got the technician to go for a ride with me, let him hear the noise and the circumstances under which it would appear, and left the car with him to take a look at.

He called me back in an hour with the problem solved. It turned out to be something I would never have figured out in 100 years. This would make a good click-and-clack "puzzler."

The problem turned out to be a missing clamp on the exhaust pipe. When the car would accelerate or decelerate, the engine would shift slightly, and the pipe would rub up against the drive shaft. That was the scraping noise. He said that there was a scrape mark on the driveshaft. If I had thought to look for something like that, I might have found the problem, but it would never had occurred to me to look for this as the source of the problem. I didn't even know the exhaust pipe was missing a hanger as it did not hang low or anything.

He installed a new pipe hanger, and the problem was cured. I was very pleased to find out that the problem was not due to my messing up the brake job.

The best part? He didn't charge me a cent. Said "no problem," and I think he enjoyed working on an old car.

Like I say, and it takes courage to do so, but sometimes you want to admit defeat, and let the "pros" have a crack at it. There is no shame in doing so.

 

That's a great story, and solid advice. I'll give it a crack of my own and see how things go. Maybe I'll reconsider letting someone else tackle it depending on how things go.

 

Oh yeah, for sure. I've got some threaded flare unions. I've also got one of those fancy brake flare tools (1/4" model) that you can use on the car:

 

I have had more than my share of brake line problems through the years, and I always started by using emery paper wrapped around the steel line and sanded it till it was clean right up to the end of the fitting. If the line were pitted, I would always replace it. If not, cleaning the line and using a line wrench from one of the better tool trucks will work wonders because they won't round off the edges of the fitting, rendering it useless. My choice of penetrating oil is Kroil or transmission fluid, and acetone. Allow it to soak in well, take your time. Once it starts to loosen, only go about 1/8 turn and then tighten it, and then go 1/4 turn off. Keep doing this until the flare nut seems to be loose enough just to back it off completely.
Brake shops charge by the hour, and many times it is less expensive for them to use brute force and replace the line completely. The new nickel/copper allow brake lines are easy to form and flare. If you don't care about originality, then I would replace the line. Keep in mind that even with a dual master cylinder, if you lose the brakes due to a line failure, it will be difficult to stop the car if you are going at highway speed. Good brakes are imperative for safe operation. To check your brake lines, with the car stationary, push on the brake pedal as hard as you can, even if you need 2 feet. If a line blows out in the driveway, it is inconvenient, but it is a lot safer than having it blow out when you need to make a panic stop in traffic.

 

Good advice. I actually did replace the master cylinder recently, upgrading from a single pot to a dual pot and I had to make up a couple replacement brake lines to do the upgrade. I've since had it out for a few drives and hit the brakes fairly hard a few times and I've seen no evidence of leaks. Still, like you mentioned, that rear brake hose is a concern of mine and I'd certainly like to replace it so I'm glad to see everyone chiming in here with their experience. It's very helpful.